TUG OF WAR (2021)
[VUTA N'KUVUTE]
In this adaptation of Adam Shafi's award-winning Swahili novel set in 1950s Zanzibar, Tanzanian filmmaker Amil Shivji (whose films T-JUNCTION and WAHENGA screened in past editions of the New African Film Festival) crafts a sweeping romance buffeted by the harsh waves of British rule and the local militant struggle for liberation. On the shores of the centuries-old trade port in the Indian Ocean's "Spice Islands" — under British protectorate control and overseen by the Sultan of Oman — Denge or "De" (Gudrun Columbus Mwanyika), a young Mswahili revolutionary, fights for a free Zanzibar. Slipping past unrelenting colonial police through the tight alleys and crumbling walls of a segregated Stone Town, De and his comrades import socialist pamphlets and distribute Swahili translations across the island, staging revolts in dance halls and expat clubs to demand political autonomy. De dreams of nothing else until he meets Yasmin (Ikhlas Gafur Vora), a young Indian Zanzibari woman seeking her own forbidden freedoms who does not expect to be intrigued by De's mystery. After running away from her arranged marriage, Yasmin is reacquainted with her home through De's eyes and through her generous friend, Mwajuma (Zanzibari musician Siti Amina). Together, the three venture across communities that are separated by arbitrary British racial categories but are deeply blended culturally. Reminiscent of an anticolonial IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, one of the few films ever shot on the island of Zanzibar, Shivji's latest captures the unique historic tensions of an indelibly important time and space. Taking place less than a generation after the close of the East African slave trade, in which Zanzibar was a central hub, this period piece looks ahead to the end of half a century of colonial rule over the archipelago. Shafi's novel is taught in high schools across Tanzania, and now a new generation of lovers has TUG OF WAR to inspire their dreams for better futures. (Note adapted from Toronto International Film Festival.) Official Selection, 2021 Toronto International Film Festival and 2022 Palm Springs International Film Festival. DIR/SCR/PROD Amil Shivji; SCR Jenna Cato Bass, from the novel "Vuta n'kuvute" by Adam Shafi; PROD Steven Markovitz, Tasmin Ranger. Tanzania/Qatar/Germany/South Africa, 2021, color, 92 min. In English and Swahili with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Run Time: 92 Minutes
Opening Date: Friday, March 18, 2022
Genre: Historical drama